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Sidecar observation and marking

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Hello can someone tell me how a sidecar trial is observed?

Edited by duggan
Mistake

In the days when I had an outfit the observing was remarkably generous.  As long as the suspension was being violently bounced whilst at a standstill it seemed a five was not given.  But I have not been at an event in recent years to know what it's like now.

I'm a big fan of sidecars. Road and road race sidecars. One of my favourite vehicles I owned was the Triumph workshop hack I built.

Unit 650 iron head motor in a rigid frame with a rigid sidecar wheel. What fun! What outrageous fun! Fastest thing round a roundabout in the wet.

However, I digress. Watched a fair bit of pre 65 sidecar vids on You Tube. Sorry, I just don't get it. I don't see the point at all in sidecar trials.

I ask them what they want their score to be,and stick that down !

Tripods seem to be a law unto themselves, I wouldn't dare to guess what their score should be.:lol:

the passenger can't dab or touch trees, etc - that bit is straight forward

the difficult bit is when is a stop a stop - its really a different test in sidecars, especially pre65 if the sections are laid out in a certain way - eg go down a hill or round a tree, turn sharp and then straight up a big hill - that does seam to involve a very long pause as the engine is wound up!

  • 1 month later...

I always do my best to keep the outfit moving and drive round turns. But sometimes the sections are just laid out so tight that you have to hop the outfit (something I'm not good at). You can always tell when the section has been plotted by someone with sidecar knowledge.;)

 

I was once told by a top sidecar rider that" stop for a one" would be far better for sidecars as they struggle to keep forward motion in tight sections.

Either the standard of riders is poorer now or the sections are set badly. Not sure which but observing sidecars is very difficult!

On 1/4/2018 at 1:15 PM, timp said:

... the sections are set badly ....

This is the real hard bit

  • the course plotter needs to think in a sidecar mindset - very difficult because not all have ridden sidecars, etc
  • what you lay out that might be really good for a sidecar can be main road for solo, and vice versa - what is easy for a solo can be really hard for a sidecar
On 28/11/2017 at 5:22 PM, jon v8 said:

I ask them what they want their score to be,and stick that down !

Tripods seem to be a law unto themselves, I wouldn't dare to guess what their score should be.:lol:

A good way to understand the whole sidecar thing is to bolt one to that matchless, just think you wouldn’t need a side stand.

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